Ten finalists, including seven individual writers and three writing teams have been selected as finalists for the 26th annual Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy’s Nicholl Committee may award as many as five of the prestigious $30,000 fellowships.

This year’s finalists are (listed alphabetically by author):

Chris Bessounian & Tianna Langham, Los Angeles, Calif., “Guns and Saris”
Dion Cook, Altus, Oklahoma, “Cutter”
K.E. Greenberg, Los Angeles, Calif., “Blood Bound”
Ehud Lavski, Tel Aviv, Israel, “Parasite”
John MacInnes, Los Angeles, Calif., “Outside the Wire”
Aaron Marshall, West Hollywood, Calif., “Fig Hunt: The Quest for Battle Armor Star Captain”
Khurram Mozaffar, Lisle, Illinois, “A Man of Clay”
Matthew Murphy, Culver City, Calif., “Unicorn”
Abel Vang & Burlee Vang, Fresno, Calif., “The Tiger’s Child”
Paul Vicknair & Chris Shafer, Los Angeles & Hermosa Beach, Calif., “A Many Splintered Thing”

The finalists were selected from a record 6,730 scripts submitted for this year’s competition. The competition is open to any individual who has not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $5,000, or received a fellowship or prize that includes a “first look” clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer’s work.

The 2011 Nicholl Fellowships will be presented on Thursday, November 3, at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire.